Homily 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 9th July 2023

Homily

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday 9th July 2023

This Sunday's Gospel is used regularly in Requiem Masses. The last paragraph asks us to seek Our Lord when we're overburdened as he will give us rest. There is much we can learn from Jesus in how to approach life through his gentleness and humility of heart. To do so we will find rest for our souls.

Zechariah tells us what the Lord said about his son’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, on Palm Sunday. Everyone saw him as a leader, even though he rode on the donkey. His kingdom would span the entire planet bringing peace to all nations. A week later he would be crucified. All were bewildered, not yet understanding Jesus’s mission to die on the cross, as the sacrificial lamb who takes away our sins. His sacrifice, the only one acceptable to God, is our only hope of getting into heaven if we believe in him.

St Paul tells us not to focus on unspiritual things, what we call materialism, as the Spirit of God won't want to rest within us, and we will be as good as dead.

By chance, I found myself reading G. K. Chesterton’s book ‘Orthodoxy’, he is also the author of the Father Brown detective stories. Chesterton called one chapter ‘The Maniac’, where he discusses how many publishers encouraged their readers to believe in themselves, to get on in life. To become Supermen. Chesterton suggests such men who believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. These asylums, however, are not necessarily institutions of bricks and mortar but the prisons they have created for themselves, because they have become lost in the pursuit of materialistic wealth or understanding, forgetting, or denying their own spiritual well-being. If you study science, the first thing you are asked to do is throw God out of the picture.

Chesterton argues that, and I quote: “Modern Master of Science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient Masters of Religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin – a fact as practical as potatoes”. End quote.

As Chesterton continues, he criticises the common assumption of his day that imagination is dangerous to our minds. He suggests that the creatives are not the ones who go insane but those who focus on everything logically. The former are happy to look at all possibilities realising the universe is limitless, yet those of a scientific mindset put limits in place to take measurements. Chesterton argues, “The Christian is quite free to believe that there is a considerable amount of settled order and inevitable development in the universe. But the materialist is not allowed to admit into his spotless machine the slightest speck of spiritualism or miracle”.

Chesterton looks at the symbolism of a circle which though seemingly endless, is bound to consistently return to a starting point to repeat another cycle. Whereas a cross, though colliding at its centre, one bar across the other, has four arms that can stretch out endlessly without changing its shape.

What interested me was that Chesterton was commenting on the madness of materialism in 1908, arguing that whoever pursues materialism ends up being locked up in their own echo chamber of investigation, attempting to fathom out the universe but constantly battling against never-ending mysteries. Whereas the Christian who recognises the spiritual can discover everything because they have accepted the mystery of God.

Today, much of our time can be locked up in materialistic things, such as mobiles, and computer games. Many have turned inward looking upon themselves, as though they are the centre of the universe. A games-engine cycles the player through different activities but is limited in the scope of the virtual world. I remember watching one of my sons, who had become bored with a racing game, attempt to discover what happens if you chose a different path. The boundaries kept him in place until he conformed to the rules of the game.

Yet, I see my grandchildren exploring the world around them because, as yet no limits to their imagination have been imposed, so they can delight in the mystery, without needing to fully understand and simply enjoy what their imaginations bring to them. They sing, create their own songs, experiment with the things around them and are happy in the present without worrying about their future.

These children live in the Spirit and are alive. All is revealed to mere children. We who may think we are learned must at times put away what we think we have learnt, to experience the world once again as children and rekindle the spirit within us. We should allow our imaginations to roam free, then we will no longer be dead in spirit but alive. To do this we should let go of the unspiritual grip of materialism and open ourselves to the Spirit of God so he can make his home in us.

References

Chesterton, G. K. (2018). Orthodoxy. Caracas: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. pp.154.

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